The invention concerns a plate for laying as a road surface for railway level crossings, and also a method of producing a railway level crossing using said plates.
Railway level crossings have been made in the past, for example, by laying concrete plates or by asphalting the road sections lying in the vicinity of the rails. Routine maintenance and inspection, by means of X-rays, of the rails for detecting wear, corrosion and other damage, have been complicated and time-consuming when the road is secured to the subsurface. The road surface must on each occasion be destroyed, and after repair work has been carried out, must be renewed; not only is this costly, but it also raises the questions of traffic control, as lengthy diversions frequently prove necessary.
Also, the installation of concrete plate systems has not always been found satisfactory in all respects. In particular, special lifting devices are required for laying concrete plates of this kind. The work associated with installing and removing these known plates is slow and complicated. Considerable costs are therefore incurred and, in the case of repair and maintenance work, road traffic has to be diverted for long periods. It has also been found that concrete plates, in particular so-called rail-supporting plates, cause considerable damage to rails at the ballast bed interface.